


follow me out to the water

by ElasticElla



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: 1-million-words, F/F, Femslash February, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 11:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13786914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Cleophas looks like she hasn’t aged a day since Maryse saw her last, all those years ago.





	follow me out to the water

**Author's Note:**

> i made the iron sisters independent of the clave because a) i can and b) lesbians harold  
> title from banks' drowning & for this weekend's weather challenge \o/
> 
> the divergence is that cleophas is taken into the institute's custody

Cleophas looks like she hasn’t aged a day since Maryse saw her last, all those years ago. It feels cruel that she got to retain everything- her independence, her looks, her fire. Crueler still that the ugly circle rune is on her forever, and Maryse’s will never burn through it. 

Once Cleophas asked her to run away and become an Iron Sister with her, to carry out their penitence together. Unspoken that the sapphic shadowhunters all went to that island, unspoken the tension that always existed between them. But Maryse was too proud, too afraid- was about to become a Lightwood, was already carrying a babe she wouldn’t make a bastard. (And what if her first was a son? The Iron Sisters would have never allowed Alec stay long.)

She might not love Robert, but when he cheats on her- when he dares to break their bonds when Maryse had been struggling to remain faithful for so many years- she begins to despise him. It’s too easy to lay all the blame at his feet: the one that insisted on sex before battles and raids just in case, the one that wasn’t satisfied with one child, the one that couldn’t even support her in parenting. 

(Maybe she allowed the world-could-be-ending sex because it made her feel alive, maybe she too wanted more children, maybe she wasn’t the best parent- but Robert’s faults are easier to clench in her fists.)

Cleophas snorts when she sees her, walks up to the cell’s bars. “Here to rescue me princess?” 

Maryse toys with the key, Cleophas’s bitter expression replaced with a curious one. She has the key in the lock before she even asks, “Will they still give you shelter?” 

Her bright white teeth glint, “Iron Sister bonds hold forever.” 

Maryse unlocks the door, “A portal will be appearing in the hallway, we only have a few moments.” 

Cleophas is free, and they both rush to the hall, jumping into a swirl of green-blue. Maryse has never been to the island before, actively avoided it after Cleo came. Her first impression is wet, and she looks up to a stormy sky. She’s never been one for omens, but the overcast sky still paints an ominous picture. 

Cleophas laughs, heavy as the rain that pours down on them, “I never- you’re here with me. You’re staying right?” 

Maryse hadn’t really admitted this part to herself yet- that she too would need sanctuary from the Clave. That she just paid for an unauthorized portal within the Institute itself, headed a jailbreak, and broke any remaining conditions of being unmarked. That of her children she might only see Izzy again, and that was only if Isabelle would come to her. If-

Cleophas cups her face gently, “Tell me.” 

“They were going to kill you, I couldn’t leave you there.” _When they couldn’t even agree to kill Valentine_ , Maryse wants to add bitterly. But it’s too soon for such words, they’re _free_. 

“I’ve missed you,” Maryse says, tears mixing in with the rain that drips down her face. 

“There’s no going back,” Cleophas warns her, eyes flicking down to her lips. 

“I don’t want to,” Maryse says, and leaning forward, she kisses her. They kiss until the very air in her lungs isn’t hers, until the rain turns from refreshing to cold, until she believes this isn’t a dream- it’s real. 

The two approach the Citadel, hand in hand, Maryse feeling like a teenager. How many times had she imagined this moment as a young shadowhunter? It isn’t nearly as blissful, nor full of righteous indignation at the world, but by the angel is Maryse relieved. 

With Cleophas, even the pouring rain doesn’t seem that hard, she can already imagine a rainbow peeking through the clouds.


End file.
